Chapter 3

*

Taeyeon had tried to zero in on Jessica’s strange speech impediment. She really did. But she became occupied with something even more imperative and bothersome. She was leaving the hospital in less than five days.

Five days, she thinks with a grimace. She heard the news while getting her check-up from the head nurse. “You’re perfectly fine.” The head nurse says with an exaggerated smile.

I won’t be if you let me go. I can’t go.

She cleared , trying to keep her voice from wavering.

“What about my mother?”

“Yes?”

“She hasn’t paid the bills.” She knew her mother too well. If there was one thing she hated more than the sight of her own daughter, it was paying a debt with cash.

“Oh.” The nurse patted Taeyeon’s lap. “It’s taken care of.” She says with a smile.

My mother actually paid for it? My mother? Taeyeon thought with disbelief. Her eyes widened and hung open.
“You’re well off with a mother like that.” The nurse says with a wink. Taeyeon tried not to scoff or make any sound of disgust at the woman’s remark. The hell I am.

“Are you sure it was my mother?”

“Yes…” Taeyeon heard the hesitation and her eyes narrowed. “Well, actually, I can’t say for sure. I just read over your papers and your bill had been paid off.”

“So you don’t know for sure if it was my mother.” Taeyeon knew she should’ve been relieved that her debt was gone and left it at that. But she wanted to make sure her mother had nothing to do with it. The last thing she wanted was to say any thanks or feel any gratitude towards the hell-bent harpy that gave birth to her.

“No.” The nurse sighed. “But it’s paid off and that’s all that matters. Shouldn’t you be happy about leaving? I mean most people dread being cooped up in the hospital for days. You’ve been here for weeks.”

“I like it here.”

“Huh.” The nurse found that hard to believe after hearing numerous times from her peers that the tiny girl had pushed them to the verge of wanting to run out of the building screaming.

The head nurse was scanning through her patient’s papers when something caught her attention. How could she have missed it?

“Taeyeon, do you know how you got here?”

Taeyeon frowned. The last thing she remembered was lying on gravel with a bruised lip under the hot sun. It was unusually hot for a March morning. She also remembered screaming obscenities before being thrown like a ragged doll and falling flat on her back. The impact had knocked the wind out of her. She was heaving and coughing, grabbing a fist full of rocks and dirt only to release it after a moment when she felt a wave of intense pain shoot from her left calf to her waist. She parted her lips and tried to cry out in pain, for help, but no sound escaped. was dry, and her tongue felt like sandpaper. She hadn’t had a sip of anything or eaten in the past four days. She kept coughing and grabbing gravel as hot tears pour down her face. She tried to at the tears to no avail, feeling like an idiot. Then she felt herself running out of energy, her body was shutting down and soon she out.

Taeyeon returned her attention to the nurse. “Did you ever find it funny that my mother never came to visit me?”

The nurse blinked and stuttered, “Umm, well I-I don’t know, but what–”

“Well, she never did. The woman you said I was well off with.” Taeyeon smiled, yet the smile held no warmth. “It’s alright; I won’t hold it against you. You didn’t – and still don’t – know my mother. But it’s not really about you getting to know my mother that I’m getting at.”

The nurse nodded and felt stupid the moment she did. She was wasting time with this girl. She looked at the clock that hung against the wall behind Taeyeon. Ten minutes into her lunch break. Damn. “Taeyeon can we finish this later? I’ll send someone down to help you pack.”

“I’m not leaving yet. I’ve got five days.”

“Less than five days.” She made sure she put emphasis on ‘less’. The head nurse stood and headed for the door.

“Do you think I deserve it?” Taeyeon whispered. That stopped the woman in her tracks.

The nurse turned to face a girl whose eyes were b with tears. A different girl from the one who’d tested her with
indignant fervor.  She softened staring at the unguarded, weak side of her patient.

“Do I think you deserve what?”

Taeyeon looked up, the tears pouring slowly. She hastily brushed away the stray tears.  “Nothing.”

The nurse sighs heavily and grabs for the door handle. She slides the door open, and before walking away, she says, “Taeyeon, whatever it is, you’ll get through it.” I hope, she mentally added. “Five days.”

Then the door slams shut. The nurse had forgotten what she’d read in Taeyeon’s papers and her unanswered question.

*